Conference: Agenda
THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 2026
9:00 AM–9:30 AM
WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS
Dennis Ridenour, BioNexus KC
Alejandro Quiroga, MD, Children’s Mercy Kansas City
Steven Leeder, PharmD, PhD, Children’s Mercy Kansas City
Mark Hoffman, PhD, Children’s Mercy Research Institute
9:30 AM – 10:30 AM
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Chethan Sarabu, MD, Cornell Tech
Climate Health Informatics: Designing Trustworthy, Sustainably AI for Human and Planetary Health
10:30 AM – 11:30 AM
DATA MANAGEMENT
Moderator: Sharlee Climer, PhD, University of Missouri St. Louis
Zohreh Talebizadeh, PhD, Global Genes
RARE-X: Patient-Reported Data in Rare Disease Research—Challenges and Opportunities in AI Applications
Alexander Alsup, PhD, University of Kansas Medical Center
Developing Healthcare Workforce Reports from Multi-Source Data
Xing Song, PhD, University of Missouri
From Data Access to Causal Insight: Building a Secure Real-World Evidence Engine with GROUSE and GPC
Student: Zahra Yousaf, Kansas City University
A Pancreatic Cancer Outcome Indicator
PANEL DISCUSSION
11:30 AM–1:00 PM
LUNCH & POSTER PRESENTATIONS
Poster presenters will provide a 30-second overview of their research on the main stage.
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
DATA VISUALIZATION
Moderator: Gayla Olbricht, PhD, Missouri S&T
Jorge Soberon, PhD, University of Kansas
The Time-machine of Biodiversity. Change in the distribution of species in North America
Jianlin (Jack) Cheng, PhD, NextGen Precision Health, University of Missouri
Visualizing Single-cell 3D Chromosome Structures With Geometric Deep Learning
Student: Siddhartha Reddy Pullannagari, University of Missouri St. Louis
A Unified Pipeline for Network-Based Gene Pattern Discovery
PANEL DISCUSSON
2:00 PM – 2:30 PM
BREAK
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
DATA ANALYSIS
Moderator: Laura Miller, PhD, Kansas State University
Sam Windham, MD, University of Kansas Medical Center
Scaling Clinical Phenotype Discovery from Single-Site to Federated EHR Networks
Tayo Obafemi-Ajayi, PhD, Missouri State University
Genetic Data-Driven Prioritization of Druggable Gene Targets for Alzheimer’s Disease
Prerna Dua, PhD, University of Missouri Kansas City
From Claims to Care: Predicting Healthcare Utilization for Medicaid Through Machine Learning
Student: Matt Gratton, University of Kansas Medical Center
Arousability from Sleep as a Multidimensional Construct: Principal Component Analysis and Machine-Learning Based Feature Selection for Sex-Specific Phenotyping and Cardiovascular Risk Stratification
PANEL DISCUSSION
3:30 PM – 4:30 PM
CAREER PANEL
Moderator: Randy Logan, PhD, BioNexus KC
Jamie Schwendinger-Schreck, Watchmaker Genomics
Dawn King, PhD, University of Kansas Medical Center
Kimberly DeWitt, State of Kansas
Abby Kietzman, Children’s Mercy
J. Sailor Usher, University of Missouri Kansas City
4:30 PM – 6:00 PM
NETWORKING RECEPTION
FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2026
7:30 AM–8:00 AM
BREAKFAST
8:00 AM–8:10 AM
WELCOME & INTRODUCTIONS
Randy Logan, PhD, BioNexus KC
8:10 AM – 9:00 AM
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Paula Ehrlich, DVM, PhD, E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation
9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Moderator: Martina Clarke, PhD, University of Nebraska Omaha
Daniel Shank, PhD, Missouri University of Science & Technology
AI Warnings: How People Understand and Misunderstand Simple AI Model Information
Todd Bradley, PhD, Children’s Mercy
AI-guided Protein Design to Regulate Inflammatory Responses
Sandra Langeslag, PhD, University of Missouri St. Louis
Romantic Love for AI Companions
Sumner Magruder, PhD, Stowers Institute for Medical Research
Institutional AI
PANEL DISCUSSION
10:00 AM – 10:30 AM
BREAK
10:30 AM–11:30 AM
IMAGE ANALYSIS
Moderator: Jenifer Allsworth, PhD, University of Missouri Kansas City
Erin Bumann, DDS, PhD, University of Missouri Kansas City
Advancing Dental Informatics: Collaborative Deep Learning for Automated Teeth Identification and Segmentation in Panoramic Radiography
Jocelyn McDonald, PhD, Kansas State University
Measuring Dynamic Cellular Behaviors in Three-Dimensional Tissues
Jieqiong Wang, PhD, University of Nebraska Medical Center
Advancing Prenatal Congenital Heart Disease Screening through Artificial Intelligence
Student: Margaret Tyrrell, University of Missouri – Kansas City
Predictive Modeling of Postpartum Depression Risk Using Electronic Health Record Data
PANEL DISCUSSION
11:30 AM–12:30 PM
DATA APPLICATION
Moderator: Randi Foraker, PhD, University of Missouri
Jasmine Neupane, PhD, University of Missouri
Data-Driven Precision Water Management in High-Value Agricultural Systems
Scott Younger, PhD, Children’s Mercy
Individualized Therapeutic Screening in Patient-Derived Organoid Models of Genetic Disease
Brad White, DVM, Kansas State University
AI in Animal Health Research: Challenges and Opportunities
PANEL DISCUSSION
12:30 PM
BREAK / LUNCH PICK UP
12:45 PM
USING HEALTH IT DATA TO RETHINK CLINICAL WORK AND PAYMENT
Moderator: Elizabeth Shaffer, Digital Health KC
Nate Apathy, PhD, University of Maryland
Frontiers in Measuring Clinician Work Using EHR Log Data
Randi Foraker, PhD, University of Missouri
Improving Healthcare Through AI-based Clinical Decision Support
Craig Mason, Myndset
Scaling Methods That Work, The Myndset Journey
Ananya Sharma, University of Missouri Kansas City
Cyclea LLC: The Future of Women’s Health Diagnostics
PANEL DISCUSSION